Sweet Success

Because of Diane's incredible generosity, I had the opportunity to run Lucy in open again last weekend. Thank you, Diane!!

Each time we have gone to the post I have had different goals for the run. Our first time out I wanted to leave the field with a score - and we did. Second time out I wanted to have a straight fetch, tight turn at the driveaway panel and a nice pen - another successful run. I worried I had set my goal a little too high this weekend because I wanted to accomplish a shed on the trial field for the first time. Lucy has more shedding experience than I do, but we work nicely together and I was optimistic.

We went to the post and Lucy was very excited. I sent her to the right with a "shhh" and she was off like a bullet. We were running two scotties and a coop. Her outrun and lift were perfect, on the fetch she was a bit in the bubble and the pace was a little fast. I wasn't terribly concerned because I wanted her to feel powerful in the beginning as I knew the sheep had been heavy on the first leg of the drive for everyone, there seemed to be a 2-direction draw right at the driveaway panel and I wanted Lucy to be able to establish a good push on her sheep after the lift. The rest of her fetch was nice and straight, settled her down. A tight turn at the post and a good first leg of the drive. It was a very tricky first leg with several different draws and a few dips in the terrain the sheep were working to avoid. Lucy pushed her sheep through the drive panels and we started the crossdrive. I had some trouble with depth perception and the sheep were high. I realized it and sent Lucy to correct it but she was unwinding her comebye flank a little so it took a bit to get things back online. The last half of the crossdrive was very nice and made the panels handily, then a tight turn and straight return leg to the pen.

The sheep marched into the pen except one ewe turned on me as I was closing the gate. I leaned at her to let her know no sheep would be leaving the pen - and slipped in the mud, falling down. I was laughing and I think the spectators thought I'd broken a leg. Well I hopped back up and slammed the pen shut, then it was off to the shedding ring for a single taken any way. It had been mixed results so far for singles. I let Lucy push the sheep into the ring straight away from the draw, then flanked her around and the sheep lined out nicely. I had planned to hold the coop as she had been lagging off the scotties during our entire run, but a little pressure from me and a sizeable gap opened up with one of the scotties singled. I called Lucy into the new gap on the fly and she did just great. She whipped past my leg and turned on the single with great intensity, and everyone started whooping and clapping. We had done it! Our first shed on the trial field together! I sent her to look back and put the packet back together, then started them to the exhaust. I called Lucy to my feet and gave her a well-deserved pet for a job well done. She was dancing with joy and her eyes were sparkling with excitement.

Diane took a few pictures to document our first ever shed! Unfortunately she did not get the part where I fell down at the pen. Maybe next time.


Called her and she's come in about halfway, the single has already started moving off her.


Flanking around me to cover the single who wants to rejoin her friends.




Lucy holding the single and looking quite pleased with herself.

After we were done exhausting and a few more runs had gone, I saw a partial score sheet and was shocked to see Lucy and Bob's Mojo had both earned 84's... the next dog back was 10 points off that. Mojo was sitting in 1st and Lucy in 2nd (Mojo had a cleaner fetch). Then it was time for me to scribe, so I was out of earshot and just concentrating on paying attention to the judge for every run. After the class was over the final scores posted and a fellow competitor came running over to say congratulations... it turned out those 84s stood up to the whole class. Lucy earned 2nd place in open and our first ever finals points together.

Lucy is an inspiration to me. She is so willing, eager and enthusiastic. She does everything I ask with love and gives 110%. While she is not the most powerful dog in the world, and will unwind flanks from time to time, every dog has faults. As a handler I have millions more faults than Lucy and she carried me that day. I am so proud of her and of her success coming 2nd place with a tied score. What a GOOD GIRL.

That'll do, Lucy.

Winter series trials so far...

Diane has been kind enough to lend me Lucy to run in Open so I can learn to trial at higher levels of competition. Without Diane’s guidance and generosity I would not be able to participate in shepherding at this level, and I owe her a tremendous debt of gratitude.


Portrait of Lucy by Diane Pagel, taken at MacDonald's trial

Our first time out was at MacDonald’s a few weeks ago. Lucy listened very well, but I hesitated to fix my fetch line too aggressively and my score reflected it. The drive, and especially the crossdrive, however were lovely. She had one of the nicest crossdrive lines of the day, which I credit to having walked the course carefully and chosen good visual landmarks for my line. We timed out trying to shed, but there were only 3 sheds the entire day so I was not too troubled by it. Overall I was thrilled with Lucy. Her attitude was terrific, she listened very well and had I been more aggressive in my handling on the fetch the score would have been more respectable. However, my goal going into the run was to leave the field with a score, and we did!

Our second time out was this past Sunday at Whidbey. A constant drizzle all day let up just as the Open class started running. The first run of the class, Ron Green and Tait, were the only ones to complete the course and shed. A few issues lining-out the sheep and at the edge of the shedding ring influenced their score, but Ron should be proud of Tait.

We were the 13th team or so to the post. Lucy was quiet and intense as we walked out, spotting her sheep at the set-out while we went to the post. I sent her left and she cast out wide and deep as she made her way up the field. Her fetch was nice and straight after a soft lift that kept the sheep from bolting. Many dogs lost their sheep either partway or all the way to the set-out as the draw was very heavy at the top end of the course. We turned the post a little too tight, with one sheep squeezing between me and the cone. Very nice first leg of the drive and most of the crossdrive. The draw again is very heavy on the crossdrive and for dogs who were too hot on the sheep or not in control the sheep would bolt for the set-out. We were a smidge high at the very end of the crossdrive, skimming the panels rather than making them. They were a bit tough to judge, being grey metal gates against the grey sky in afternoon light/rain. Then a very tight turn at the crossdrive panels and a nice straight leg to the pen. Sadly, my judgment was off and though the line was straight, it was about 5’ high. Next was a nearly perfect pen, no fiddling around, just slow steady quiet work.

The sheep really liked Lucy and were quite relaxed. The pen and first leg of the drive took a little time, so we were not in great shape going to the shed. I had just set on enlarging a gap when time was called, but felt really good about our work in the shedding ring. The sheep were settled and did not jog around the ring or get upset, which was an improvement from last time. Lucy ended up with a 4th place finish. I was ecstatic with her performance. She listened beautifully and was steady and quiet but authoritative behind her sheep. The sheep really liked her style and we did not struggle the way some teams did with sheep constantly bolting in one direction or another. Though light, the sheep were honest and if the dog was right, nice runs were to be had. Perfect evidence was Linda DeJeong’s run with her Michael – quiet, calm and smooth.

All in all, I am very proud of Lucy. Thanks to the support of Diane and other members of the herding community, I have opportunities unlike any other to participate in a sport I am growing to love. Many thanks also to Sue MacDonald and Susan Crocker for being such supportive trial hosts for me as a new handler running Open for the first few times.

San Juans: The journey home

The ferry ride home began like any other ferry ride. Sit in line for an hour, hope you get on the sailing you came for. We did, and sailed away from Orcas around 12:30pm.



The fun began on Lopez, our stop prior to reaching the mainland at Anacortes.



I was riding on the leading end of the boat, hanging out to take photos during the docking. I took some photos that will be a great reminder to me of the skills the WSF staff have for squeezing 2 18-wheelers side-by-side in the center isle of the ferry with only about 2' to spare on the stern of the vessel. At their closest, the trucks were only a few inches apart from eachother as well as a few inches from the walls of the ferry. The parking job took plenty of jockeying around and was met with applause from the onlookers when completed. Truly impressive. The truckers seemed surprised as well.

While we were watching the super-truck-jockeying, some people amused themselves participating in a game I had not seen before: toss a coin into the target painted on the dock. There are thousands of coins on this platform and it is somewhat entertaining watching kids try to hit the target. I tried to keep the wildlife implications of all those coins going into the water out of my mind.



As I watched the kids (and parents) tossing coins, I heard one young teenager (perhaps 14?) making a ruckus about not having any coins to toss. His parents were unsympathetic, as was I, to be honest. However, I would not have imagined his solution. At his age, I definitely would not have come to the same conclusion. What did he decide?



Look in the lower right corner. Can't make it out? That's alright - I couldn't believe my eyes -- luckily for us both I had a zoom lens. Yep... its not a coin... its...




Yes... a dollar bill. In the shape of a paper airplane. What he didn't account for is that airplanes have wings, which experience lift based on wind. Sadly, his efforts were a "wash".



Once the coins and bills were tossed, and the trucks were loaded, it was time to motor back to Anacortes. The voyage was largely unremarkable except for 2 noteworthy discoveries. First, I saw my dream home. Check it out, its even blue!



Second, I discovered that the cormorants are nesting in the pilings at the ferry dock. The only place you can really see this is from the ferry car decks. The passenger decks are too high and the nests don't face the docks. Of course, I couldn't help snapping a few shots of adults and their nearly fledged chicks.



The 2 gray fluffs hiding in the shadows are chicks.




Someday maybe I'll fledge too.

Mini Vacation: San Juan Islands

Having 3 weeks off school motivated me to arrange a mini vacation. Bruce and I returned home today from spending 4 and 1/2 days in the San Juan Islands. One of Bruce's friends since childhood, Pliny Keep, is the new manager at Doe Bay Resort. We stayed at the resort in Sea Yurt, a 12' yurt dwelling right on the beach in Otter Cove. Every night the water lapping the sand lulled me to sleep, and shorebirds tracking down breakfast woke me every morning.

The trip began with a race to the ferry after the Shedding Clinic on Sunday arriving near 11pm on Orcas. We fumbled to the resort in the dark, then packed in our gear in the dark and RAIN. Ugh. We spend a couple of days lounging around the resort, enjoying the saunas and soaking pools fed by the natural hot springs.

On Wednesday we took a little inter-island adventure up to Friday Harbor. The ferry passed a pleasure sailing yacht - holy smokes that was a big boat.




On the way to Friday Harbor, we stopped at Shaw.




Shaw is the smallest island served by the WA ferries in the SJI. The last time I visited Shaw was in the early 1990's and the ferry dock was operated by a group of Franciscan nuns who also ran the general store. I raced to the forward end of the boat (WA State Ferries are all double-ended vessels, so the bow and stern are interchangeable) with my camera, and was disappointed to see some teenage or early twenties doodlehums running the dock. At least the sign was as I remembered.


Then arrived at Friday Harbor, San Juan Island. My first visit to "the big island".



Once on San Juan, we visited English Camp as well as American Camp and 4th of July beach. At the beach, the girls got to swim and I spent a lot of time reading my book in the sun and admiring clouds.




In the 1800s, San Juan was occupied by both the British and the Americans, with a great deal of disagreement about whether the land belonged to the British Empire or was part of the new American West. The treaty designated the boundary to be at the "channel between the islands and the mainland." Well, there are 2 channels - Rosario strait and Haro strait. The British insisted the "channel" of the treaty was Rosario strait, leaving the islands in British hands, while the Americans argued the "channel" was Haro strait, making the islands part of the US. Until the dispute was resolved, the English occupied what is now British Camp National Historical Area on the north end of San Juan, and the Americans held what is now American Camp National Historical Area on the south end.

British camp was a nice stop, with a manicured formal garden featuring these black-eyed susans,




and multiple preserved original buildings. Of course, the colors are flying as well.



We also visited Roche Harbor and the outdoor masonic temple there which also acts as a mausoleum for the McMillan family. Bruce took a bunch of cool photos but they are all on his camera. You will likely be able to see them on his blog by the end of the weekend.

The ferry ride back was sunny and beautiful, with the light glinting off the water like a million faceted diamonds.



Two days we visited the Eastsound Off Leash Area. It is tiny, but the girls enjoyed the chance to run free and play frisbee, sniff the sniffs and generally have fun. The resort is pet friendly but asks dogs are kept on-lead. While none of the other people who brought dogs seemed to cooperate with this requirement, I was diligent about it, so the girls needed a chance to romp freely.

I was greatly amused both by the yuppie poop-bag station, which included hand sanitizer:



As well as Magick's clear communications.

Please throw the frisbee soon:



I SAID PLEASE!!



We also went up Mt. Constitution one day, which is part of Moran State Park. It is the highest peak in the SJI and offers vistas of all the islands as well as Canada. The day was cloudy, foggy and cool - as you can see. At least the clouds were photogenic!



Macia and Sucia islands, in the distance is Vancouver, Canada.



Mt. Constitution also features an observation tower constructed of sandstone quarried on the north end of Orcas Island.



All in all it was a very nice visit. The ferry ride home was its own separate adventure, listed in my next entry.